Learning
by Spirit of Stars in Sky
Summary: After the events of the first movie, the people of Berk began to notice a lot of things. Specifically, they began to notice things about Hiccup. How could they have possibly missed these things?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The war between the vikings and the dragons was finally over, and hopefully, it would stay that way forever.

Changes began to happen in the village. All of the buildings were being changed and set to be long term structures, now that they were no longer being set on fire (as frequently as they had been, and now the fire were accidents, not on purpose). They were also changed so as to accomodate the dragons.

The dynamics began to change as well. People were more open to ideas and changes, and were more accepting of others being different.

They also paid attention more, and soon, they began to notice things they hadn't before, things they would never have noticed before, or otherwise dismissed.

Specifically, they began to notice things about Hiccup.


	2. Shades of Green

**Shades of Green**

They don't know how they could have missed it. It seems so obvious now that they have noticed.

Hiccup has the most beautiful, expressive green eyes, and they change depending on his mood.

They blaze with life, and love, and courage.

When he is happy, or excited, they're a brilliant emerald, with spiraling depth that you can get lost for hours in. When he's angry, they're a sharp, icy, acidic green that makes you freeze (and recoil if they're aimed at you). When working in the forge, his eyes are a dark, dazzling pine green, glowing and blazing like the inferno he uses to create wondrous pieces of metallic art. When talking about dragons, they're a bright, gleaming juniper, filled with fondness and love. When he's sad, they're a dull, faded green, when he's hurt they're a very pale, dull green, with a dark shadow cast over them, and no light or lively sparks, and either of those emotions are both heartbreaking and terrifying to see in his eyes. They have not yet seen him well and truly enraged, nor have they seen fear in his eyes. They all hope that they never do.

But, most important and beautiful of all, is when Hiccup is flying with Toothless. Then, his eyes are a breathtaking, gorgeous myriad of different shades of green. They're emerald, and shamrock, and chartreuse, and they're the heart of the greenest, most mysterious forest, wild as the dragons he loves, deeper than the sea, vast and endless as the sky, free as the howling winds, blazing brighter than the sun, and look, for all the world, as if they are Life itself.

Hiccup and Toothless also have perfectly matching eyes., as if they are two halves of a whole.

It's why they are all perfectly happy to let the two fly to their hearts' content, because they know the two truly belong in the sky.

Though they make sure that the two don't forget to eat and rest of course, because Hiccup and Toothless don't have the best track record in regards to that.


	3. The Forge

**The Forge**

Hiccup and Gobber practically _lived_ in the forge, and, on occasion, they _did_ live in the forge.

It wasn't a recent development either. It had been going on for years, probably starting shortly after Hiccup started working there. It was also, in hindsight, rather obvious, especially because it was very clear when the forge was occupied.

Stoick was the first to notice, mostly because he hadn't been able to find Hiccup or Toothless one morning.

It sent the entire village to panicking, because they couldn't find a trace of the two. They searched the entire island, and the surrounding skies, but had no luck.

They had all come back together in the Great Hall to see if anyone had had any luck.

No one had.

They checked to see if anyone else was missing, and realized that they hadn't seen Gobber either. Stoick and the viking teens went down to check the forge, and found the two blacksmiths working and talking, with Toothless –as well as several Terrors- curled up out of the way.

Both blacksmiths were surprised and rather amused at the news that everyone had been searching for Hiccup, but hadn't thought to check the forge.

No one else was amused, and the question was made: why would they have thought to check the forge?

Both blacksmiths glanced at each other, confused, and responded:

"Wasn't it obvious?"


	4. Blacksmiths

**Blacksmiths**

Hiccup was an absolutely _brilliant_ blacksmith. He had a natural talent for crafting metal, and years of experience gave him the skill he needed. He was patient, and very dedicated. It was one of his passions, and he loved it.

When he wasn't flying, he was usually in the forge. He often fell asleep in the large back room Gobber helped him set up to use, alongside Toothless of course, and Gobber often used the other, smaller back room to do the same.

As blacksmiths, Hiccup and Gobber _forgot_ more about weapons than others _learned_ or _knew_. It surprised the others in the village, when Hiccup pointed out things about their weapons, or stances, or spouted random facts about the weapons they used. It also impressed them.

They began to notice more about Hiccup as a blacksmith. He had numerous burn scars on his hands, wrists, and forearms, with the occasional scar from a blade. The teens realized that Hiccup knew more about getting scars than they did, when thinking back to his comments on their first day of dragon training. Hiccup was comfortable with playing with fire. He was also stronger than he looked. He had to be, to work in the forge.

He was good at working with leather, though he didn't have the talent for it that he had with metal. He was also creative enough to try things no one else had imagined, much less thought possible. He was very good at thinking outside the box.

The forge, when both blacksmiths were working in full swing, was absolutely _chaotic._ Both of the smiths talked constantly, and were, more often than not, blunt, insulting, and loud. They bantered back and forth, each giving as good as they got. Everyone was starting to get the suspicion that Hiccup had learned to be sassy, sarcastic, blunt, and insulting from Gobber. The forge was almost unbearably hot, though neither smith seemed to notice. The air rung with the sounds of metal on top of their bantering, and almost no one could stay in there for more than 10 seconds. The other villagers either watched from a safe distance, or completely steered clear of it.

They were very glad to learn when to stay far away from the forge.


	5. Music of Voices

**Humming and Singing**

Hiccup often hummed when doing something.

He hummed when he worked, whether he was alone in the forge (or hummed while Gobber was in there, with the elder blacksmith often joining in), or when he was inventing.

He hummed when he sat and fed or pet or played quietly with various dragons.

When it was dark out, and everyone sat in the Great Hall and drank and ate and talked softly with their friends and family, and were tired from the work of the day, and the kids and teens sat curled up in chairs, or against dragons, Hiccup hummed. He would be curled up sleepily with Toothless, green eyes half closed, and a small, content smile on his face. Then, he would, after a bit, begin to drowsily hum a beautiful tune. Gradually, the entire village would gently go quiet, and his humming would be all that could be heard. Eventually, he'd fall asleep when the tune ended, and the chief would help Toothless take him home (because with Hiccup, Toothless was in charge, not Stoick, and everyone knew it).

* * *

Sometimes, they'd hear him sing, too.

It was well known throughout the village that Hiccup sang beautifully. He often sang in other languages, ones from all over the world. No one recognized the songs he sang, they were from far off parts of the world. The ones in Norse were the ones he wrote himself, and they were the best of all. Some were fairly cheerful, some were slow and lilting, and some were haunting, sending chills down your spine. Yet they were all utterly beautiful.

Oftentimes, Toothless would hum along (it couldn't really be called singing, because most dragons lacked the ability to speak Norse). It was really cute, and they made a wonderful duet.


	6. Hair

**Hair**

Hiccup had red hair.

It was a very dark shade of red, so that in shadow it looked a deep, chestnut brown. But, when light caught it properly, it shone a beautiful mix of mahogany, garnet, ruby, scarlet, and crimson. It was very, very pretty.

It looked like fire, bright and hot, and often resembled flames dancing and swaying in the wind.

The villagers often caught themselves staring at it, as it was rather hypnotizing, like the fire it resembled. This, of course, also made it very, very distracting. Many had a hard time concentrating on a sunny day when Hiccup was walking around the village.

In spite of that, everyone wished that sunny days would come more often. Hiccup's hair was very pretty when he was growing it out.

* * *

Hiccup was also growing out his hair. It got longer as time went on, prompting him to tie it back in order to keep it out of his face. Eventually, it got long enough that he had to get Stoick to teach him how to braid his own hair.

That was an interesting event. It was highly amusing to watch the fearless viking chief Stoick the Vast awkwardly trying to teach his dragon-riding blacksmith-apprentice son to braid his own hair.

No one was going to ever forget that. Or let the two involved forget it either.


	7. Determination

**Determination**

The lesson that a determined Hiccup is an essentially unstoppable Hiccup is, embarrassingly enough, one the people of Berk learned the hard way.

Hiccup is the kind of person who, once he sets his mind to do something, will do it, and so help anyone who gets in his way.

They have seen it so many times, and will undoubtedly see it many times more. _Many. Times. More._

 _So Many._

Once they got used to it, however, it became entirely too hilarious to watch outsiders meet Hiccup, do something to bring out such determination, get in his way, and be very shocked and surprised when he ran roughshod over absolutely everything.

The chaos was always utterly _GLORIOUS_ , and the expressions of the outsiders always **priceless.**

The other Viking tribes were, needless to say, wary whenever they came to Berk.

Not they were wrong to be so.


End file.
